Culinary Services Manager

Location: Irvine, CA (Hybrid - Sandy Springs, GA)

About the Role

The Manager, Culinary Services, will champion our Food Innovation Services, technical expertise, and commercial growth for Ventura Foods and its customers. Reporting directly to the VP, this position serves as the lead culinary interface between customers, sales, product development, insights, and marketing. The role will drive the execution of the company’s innovation services, strengthen customer relationships, and ensure alignment between product development and business objectives. This position will develop concepts and products to accelerate speed-to-market, menu innovation, and revenue growth for customers while acting as the culinary lead for the Sandy Springs, GA Innovation Center.

Responsibilities

• Provides menu and product innovation services to key customers in multiple business channels.
• Develops menu concepts and products, collaborating and/or leading cross-functional teams to present solutions to customers.
• Plays a key role in the execution of the Vista Food Innovation Service.
• Employs and/or develops digital tools such as videos for menu concepts, product category training, social media, YouTube, and direct-to-customer engagements to expand culinary reach.
• Serves as the culinary site leader, owning and managing the kitchen event calendar and culinary execution for those events.
• Ensures the kitchen is cleaned, maintained, and organized.
• Develops and maintains relationships with third-party culinary facilities, including broker kitchens for food preparation and contracted facilities for customer presentations.
• Provides and/or leads culinary support for company and industry events, including developing concepts, products, menus, execution plans, and communication.
• Documents all customer project activity in the Salesforce CRM system to capture value and time investment.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Culinary Arts, Food Science, or related field is preferred. AA/AOC Culinary degree, professional certificate, or recognized apprenticeship program with equivalent culinary and product development experience will be considered.
• 7+ years of progressive culinary experience in restaurant operations, food manufacturing, or culinary sales.
• 3+ years of experience in a food manufacturer role is preferred.
• Hands-on experience in kitchen operations, menu innovation, product development, direct customer engagement, team leadership, commercialization, and turning strategy into business growth.
• Experience collaborating and/or leading cross-functional teams to create customer solutions.
• Proven success in building customer relationships and translating culinary trends into customer menu solutions.
• Ability to travel up to 40% for customer meetings and industry events.

Preferred Qualifications

• CEC and/or CRC certifications are preferred.
• Food Protection Manager certification is preferred.
• Demonstrated working knowledge and use of digital/video capabilities.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to connect culinary innovation to commercial growth.
• Strong presentation, communication, and negotiation skills.
• Deep knowledge of food safety, product development, regulatory requirements, product commercialization, trends, and marketing strategies.
• Proven proficiency in high-level food preparation and execution.

Skills

• Passionate about food and delivering customer value through innovation.
• Strategic thinker with a customer-centric approach to culinary innovation.
• Ability to work independently with broad direction.
• Skilled in project management and cross-functional collaboration.
• Relationship-driven with strong commercial instincts.
• Expertise in kitchen operations across fine dining, high-volume food service, casual, fast-casual, QSR, and retail food service.

Why Join Us

Ventura Foods innovates and manufactures food solutions for foodservice and retail businesses. We create exclusive products for iconic restaurants and retailers, provide ready-to-go solutions for professional kitchens, and develop consumer brands everyone knows and loves. As part of our team, you’ll receive:

• A strong foundation of training and a manager who supports your success.
• A safe and challenging work environment.
• Opportunities for career growth and development.

Benefits

• Medical, prescription, dental, and vision coverage beginning on the first day for eligible employees.
• Profit sharing and 401(k) matching (after eligible criteria are met).
• Paid vacation, sick time, and holidays.
• Employee appreciation events and employee assistance programs.

Pay

Base salary range: $114,801.00 – $150,678.15. Ventura Foods reserves the right to pay outside this range based on candidate skills, experience, job complexity, budgetary factors, and location.